Dealing board

ABSTRACT

A dealing board has a dealing board main body having a box-like structure. The box-like structure includes a top plate, bottom plate, front face plate and rear face plate. The top plate is forwardly slanted relative to the top of a desk on which the main body is mounted and has a number of openings formed therein. The dealing board further has a plurality of panel units arranged in the opening. A receiving device secured to a bent portion of the top end of the front face plate or the rear face plate forms a gap. The dealing board further has a screen plate attached to a top end of the one of the rear face plate or the front face plate which is not bent, and a fixing device is provided on the screen plate so as to be removable by set screws. The dealing board further has a card insertion slot of a reader-writer for reading and writing information on memory cards, a card take-out button placed near the card insertion slot, and a cover covering the card slot and card take-out button. One end side of the cover has an attaching portion for attaching the cover onto the main body, a fulcrum having a hinge portion for opening and closing the cover, and a holding mechanism for holding the cover at its erect position.

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/138,185filed Oct. 20, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,850, which is a divisionalapplication of Ser. No. 07/655,293 filed Feb. 14, 1991, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Industrial Field

The present invention relates to a dealing board provided with varioustelephoning functions and adapted to be used as a terminal of afinancial institution, such as banks and securities corporations.

2. Prior Art

Generally speaking, the dealing board used as a financial terminal has atelephone function. Recently, a wide variety of functions has becomeavailable, with several functions of the terminal grouped and panelledin units. Customers can select their necessary units other than basicunits and combine these selected units in order to construct theparticular and custom-built dealing board.

Because the dealing board has telephone functions, it is constructedwith a hand-set, a set of dialing buttons, function buttons, a display,a microphone, a speaker, and a set of switches for operating andcontrolling these instruments.

FIGS. 29 and 30, respectively show perspective and sectional views ofthe conventional dealing board of the kind described above.

As shown, a main body 131 of the dealing board is installed on a desk132. A display system 133 displaying information on the economy isinstalled on the front portion of the desk 132 and a control box 134 isplaced under the desk.

Ordinarily, a control panel 139a of the main body 131 of the dealingboard is apt to be declined by an angle of the range of 10°-30° in orderto make the operability of the dealing board good.

As shown in FIGS. 31 and 32, the main body 131 of the dealing boardconsists of the control panel 139a, the function buttons 135, a pair ofprint substrates 137 and 138 on which function circuits are mounted, anda case 139 containing these parts described above. These printsubstrates 137 and 138 are assembled in parallel with each other througha pair of bushings 140 and the assembly is installed on the inner faceof the front-declined control panel 139a by screws 141.

A plurality of steps or floors of junction print substrate 142 join thedealing board main body 131 to the control box 134, and the set of printsubstrates 143 and 144 is contained and installed on the bottom portionof the case 139.

According to the conventional dealing board shown, the control panel139a is installed on the upper face of the box-like case 139 so as to beinclined down toward the front, the bottom face 139d of the case 139 isplaced horizontally, and the front and the rear faces 139b and 139c ofthe case 139 are situated at a right angle relative to the bottom face139d.

In order to assemble the conventional dealing board, the case 139 of thedealing board main body 131 is inserted downward through an openingportion 132a of the desk 132 and the case 139 is fixed in place by a setof fixtures 145. In such a situation, a pair of vertical walls of thecase 139 are placed at a right angle to the top plate of the desk 132,so when a user A sits on a chair in back of the dealing board, his kneeB touches the front face 139b or a corner of the case as shown in FIG.33, thereby blocking up free movement of the knee B of the user. Alsothe person cannot sit on the chair comfortably thereby creating earlyfatigue of the user disadvantageously.

It is possible, as apparent from FIGS. 30 and 33, to lengthen the lengthL of the top plate of the desk 132. However, a lengthening of the topplate generates inconveniently a large desk 132 occupyingdisadvantageously a large space of the office room when the dealingboard with the large-size desk is installed therein.

Also, the main body 131 of the conventional dealing board has slantedprint substrates 137 and 138 on which function buttons 135 are mountedand other print substrates 142, 143, and 144 fixed to the bottom of thecase 139 are placed in a horizontal posture, whereby useless space H iscreated between the set of print substrates 137 and 138 and the set ofprint substrates 142, 143, and 144. As a result, the whole size of thecase 139 becomes large, and heat generated from electronic parts mountedon the horizontal print substrates 143 and 142 is apt to be blocked bythe top and the lower print substrates 143 and 144 and escapes throughthermal stream 146, resulting in a bad heat radiation of the main body131 of the dealing board.

In addition, the appropriate declining angle 0 of the dealing boardvaries according to the particular customer of the board, so that it hasbeen necessary to manufacture the main body 131 of the dealing boardhaving various declining angles θ according to the particular desire ofthe user. That is, it is difficult to standardize the angle and a numberof kinds of the main body of the dealing board must be produced,resulting in a difficulty of management for the production of the board.

The conventional dealing board has as shown in FIGS. 34-37 a panel unit154 adapted to be used by the user as a communication means, which unitincludes a dial operation part 155, a display portion 157 such as liquidcrystal, a number of key units 156 having automatic dialing functions, avolume control 158 for controlling the volume or darkness or brightnessof the microphone and other key units and the display 157, and othercontrol panels for various switches. These various parts contained inthe panel unit 154 are arranged on a panel 159 and connected and securedto print substrates 160-1 and 160-2. The control panel of the dealingboard is constructed by the parts of the panel unit 154 including ahand-set. Further, the dealing board deals with in function a number ofclients or business connections and the particular client can be calledout with a single touch operation of buttons through the automaticdialing function. The automatic dialing function includes a displayfunction depicting the name or symbol of the customer through a set oflight emitting diodes in order to indicate the customer called out,which display function is placed near the key unit 156 of the automaticdial, and other functions indicating an arrival of a telephone call orthe existence of a caller.

The names of customers can be memorized in the dealing board by thedialing function, but it is necessary to install on the board of thepanel unit 154 consisting a number of key switches. It is preferable toconstruct the control panel of the dealing board by the panel unit 154which unitizes or groups various functions in their kinds, because thedealing board has a number of functions. Consequently, the dealing boardis constructed by selecting and combining function units, such as adisplay 113 and the like shown in FIG. 23, which are necessary to thecustomer, except the basic function unit.

In general, the conventional dealing board is mounted on the desk and anumber of desks having the dealing boards mounted thereon are placed inan office room.

The desk with the dealing board has a display apparatus for selectingand displaying various economic information, book shelves and drawers.It is apparent that consequently a predetermined space of the desk topboard is necessary to make operation of the dealing board easy andconvenient. However, it is desirable to restrict the size of the desk inorder to accommodate many desks in the dealing room. When the size ofthe desk is limited, it is necessary to shorten the depth of the deskobtaining small desks thereby.

The conventional dealing board is constructed by a panel unit 154 asdescribed above having multi-functions. Concerning the panel unit 154,the key switch 165 shown in FIG. 38 of the key unit 156 with automaticdialing function has an electric conductive contact rubber 165-2 used asa movable contact and a stable contact 165-3, which contact rubber iscovered by a case 165-1 and the stable contact is fixed on the top faceof the case 165-1. In addition, a terminal 165-4 connected to the stablecontact 165-3 is soldered to be fixed to the print substrate 160-1. Inconsequence, due to the existence of the terminal 165-4 protruding fromthe rear face of the print substrate 160-1, it is difficult to mountother elements or parts on the rear face of the print substrate 160-1,resulting in an impossibility of high density or compact mounting ofelements on the print substrate 160-1. Additionally, because theconductive contact rubber 165-2 is covered by the case 165-1 andcontacts the key switch 165, an area occupied by the key switch 165becomes large making a miniaturizing of the panel unit 154 difficult.

A protective resistor 162-1 must be arranged on the outside of the keyswitch 165 causing a hindrance to a miniaturization of the panel unit154.

According to the prior art, the panel unit 154 has been fixed to anopening portion of the main body of the dealing board by the methodshown in FIG. 39.

That is, a fixing piece 171 and a fixture 172 are applied to the openingportion of the case 170, and another fixing piece 175 engaging with thefixing piece 171 and another fixture 177 contacting with the fixture 172and covering the fixture 172 are installed at the side of the panel 173so as to engage the fixing piece 175 at the side of the panel 173 withthe fixing piece 171 at the side of the case 170. Screws 179 placed inthe fixtures 172 and 177 are fastened by using a tool 178, such as adriver, inserted through the bottom portion of the case 170 after thefixture 177 at the side of the panel 173 is mounted on the fixture 172at the side of the case 170. Thus, the panel 173 is secured to the case170.

According to the fixing mechanism of the prior art as shown in FIG. 40,the panel 173 is fixed to the opening portion of the case 170 bysecuring the fixing piece 171 to the opening portion and driving thescrew 179 to fasten the panel 173 fitted in the opening portion from thetop to the fixing piece 171.

The reference numeral 173a indicates function buttons placed in thepanel 173.

It is necessary to turn over the case 170 when the tool 178 is insertedfrom the bottom of the case 170 of the fixing arrangement shown in FIG.39 and used to fasten the screw 179.

However, the case 170 has a plurality of panels 173 neatly arranged andsecured thereto and the gap between panels 173 is adjusted neatly to thefixed distance obtaining a good appearance. Consequently, when the case170 must be turned over as mentioned above and the panels 173 aresecured thereto, it is necessary to turn over the case 170 and exchangeseveral panels 173 every time it is intended to change the combinationof the panels 173. When it is found that the gaps between the panels arenot equal after the exchange, the case 170 must be again turned over andthe same work repeated. It is explicitly troublesome and time-consuming.

When other fixing construction as shown in FIG. 40 is employed, in whichconstruction the panel 173 is secured to the case 170 by means of thescrew 179 inserted from above the panel 173, a head of the screw 179 isexposed thereby deteriorating an appearance of the case 170.

In general, the control panel of the dealing board main board isdeclined downwardly in order to develop an operability of the controlpanel and there is no space for pencils or other writing instruments andthe like to be held thereon, on the panel 173, so that when a pencil orwriting instrument carelessly is put on the slanted panel 173, theinstrument will roll down from the panel and be missed thereby hinderinga smooth working.

The conventional dealing board generally used as a financial terminaldeals with transactions of bonds, foreign exchanges, and stocks throughtelephone lines, so some telephoning functions are installed on theboard.

The telephoning function has a one-touch or one-switching function forcalling a customer instantly or by one-pushing. However, becauserecently a number of the customers has increased due to a variability ofthe business, it has been difficult to adapt the one-switching operationsystem to all customers.

Consequently, according to the recent trend, a plasma display is mountedon the dealing board, which display displays the names of customers andtelephone numbers. Merely touching the particular name by a finger cancall out the customer.

There are other kinds of dealing boards having expanded functions.According to one development, names and telephone numbers of thecustomers are previously memorized in a memory card and the memory cardis inserted in an insertion slot of the dealing board, so that thecontent of the card is displayed on the plasma display. Using thedealing board of the kind above, the user always holds his or her ownmemory card and the user can call out the user's customers through thedealing boards other than his or her own dealing board and carry outtransactions.

The dealing board to which memory cards are used has a reader-writerinstalled in the board so as to read and write information in the memorycard and the memory card is inserted into the card insert slot of thereader-writer.

A card take-out button for taking out the memory card inserted isprotrudingly formed near the reader-writer. A cover 181 is fixed to thecard insertion slot as shown in FIG. 41 through a set of screws 180 inorder to prevent the card take-out button from being accidently touchedduring a use of the dealing board, and foreign matter such as dust andtrash from entering or invading into the card insertion slot therebydamaging the reader-writer during a non-use of the dealing board.

However, according to the prior art, the conventional cover 181 is fixedto cover the card insertion slot by means of screws 180, so that it isnecessary to remove the screws 180 and the cover 181 every time thedealing board is used. It is troublesome to remove and fix the screwsand the cover. The cover 181 is apt to be missed after the cover isremoved from the dealing board main body and accidently lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the first invention, the frontface of the dealing boardmain body provided with the control panel slanted down in front isslanted rearward as it goes down so as to separate the frontface of thedealing board main body from the legs of the user or prevent the knee ofthe user from hitting the dealing board main body, as well as to allowthe top plate of the desk to be shortened. In consequence, a number ofdealing boards much more than the prior art can be installed in a singledealing room. It is economical.

According to the second invention described in claim (1) mentionedbelow, the bottom face of the dealing board main body and the printsubstrate accommodated in the main body are placed in parallel with thecontrol panel in order to form no unnecessary space between the bottomplate and the print substrate, and respective print substrates and toraise the mounting space efficiency.

According to the third invention of the dealing board described in claim(1) below, a fixing member for securing the dealing board main body tothe desk has a slant angle so as to control the slant angle of thecontrol panel. Consequently, it is possible to set the angle of thepanel according to the desire of the customer without a manufacture ofthe dealing board main body according to the particular desire of thecustomer. It is easy to standardize the angle of the panel, and it isnot necessary to previously prepare or stock many dealing board mainbodies of plural kinds making the management of the main bodies easy.

Concerning the dealing board provided with a plurality of key unitsaccording to the fourth invention of the application, the key unit has aswitch mechanism consisting of a contact formed on the print substrateand a conductive contact rubber for turning the contact above ON andOFF, a display element formed so as to correspond with each contact, anda chip element installed between the lower face of the key case and theprint substrate, thus it is possible to diminish the gap distancebetween respective key cases of the key unit and the arrangement pitchof the key unit, lessen the depth or width of the dealing panelminiaturizing the whole construction of the dealing board.

As for the dealing board according to the fifth invention described inclaim (4), flat-pack IC parts having a function of integrating a numberof matrix information using indication elements and switch mechanismsand capable of mounting on flat faces are mounted on the opposite sideof the face constructing contacts of the print substrate. In the dealingboard above, IC parts for controlling the matrix information are dividedand mounted on another print substrate. In other words, it is possibleto carry out a high density or compact parts mounting on the printsubstrate and reduce some print substrates and connectors therebyminiaturizing the panel unit and curtailing the manufacturing cost.

According to the sixth invention, on the dealing board provided withmulti-functions of telephoning, units uniting these various functionsand panels of these units, there are dents opening through theirtopfaces placed between the panel attached onto the topface of the caseso as to incline in front. The panel is inserted in the case through theopening of the dent and secured by screws inserted from above. Comparedto the conventional method for securing the panel to the case, in whichmethod the case is turned upside-down, the novel method for securing thepanel to the case can make the removal-securing process of the paneleasy and control of the gap between panels can be done from above,resulting in a good workability.

According to the dealing board described in claim (6) of the seventhinvention, the opening of the dent is closed by a removable cover,omitting an exposure of heads of fastening parts, for example, screwsfor holding and securing the panel and improving the appearance.

According to the dealing board described in claim (7) of the eighthinvention, a sucking member made of magnetic material is fixed to thecover so as to make the cover attracted to another magnet of the case.

According to the dealing board disclosed in claim (7), the ninthinvention of the application has the cover made of an elastic materialso as to simplify the removal-fitting of the cover.

As for the dealing board described in claim (7), the tenth invention hasa protrusion protruding upwardly from the topface of the panel andformed on the cover, which is formed to prevent writing instrumentscarelessly placed on the panel from dropping.

According to the eleventh invention, the plurality of panel unitscontaining several functions have protruding engagement pieces formed atends of the units and one engagement piece is engaged with one end ofthe opening formed in the topface of the dealing board main body andanother engagement piece is inserted into the gap formed at one end ofthe fixing pieces. In addition, another end of the fixing piece isremovably secured to a screen plate formed near the opening of thedealing board main body through screws. According to the fixingconstruction in the dealing board main body, panel units can be fixed tothe main body through the upper or front side of the main body. Also, itis possible to control the gaps between each panel unit, seeing thefrontface of the dealing board main body after these units are assembledto the main body.

According to the twelfth invention, as for the constructions of the cardinsertion slot of the reader-writer for reading-out information on thememory card and writing-in information therein and of the coverprotectively covering the card take-out button placed near the cardinsertion slot, a fixing portion for securing the cover to the dealingboard main body, a hinge portion functioning as a fulcrum of the openingand closing cover, and a holding mechanism for holding the cover at itserected position or condition, respectively are provided on one end sideof the cover. On another end side of the cover, an elastic engagementportion for removably engaging with an engagement hole formed on thedealing board main body are provided. Covering the card insertion slotand the card take-out button by a cover during a usage of the dealingboard prevents the card take-out button from carelessly or erroneouslybeing touched by the user and prevents foreign matter such as dust fromentering or invading the reader-writer during a time of non-use of thedealing board.

Accordingly, the first purpose of the present inventions resides in aprovision of the dealing board contributing to shortening of the topplate of the desk.

It is the second purpose of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard having a small main body provided with a good mounting efficiencywithout useless Spaces apt to be generated between the bottom face ofthe dealing board main body and a print substrate and these printsubstrates themselves, as well as the number of the parts can be reducedand reliability of the function can be raised. Furthermore, somedisadvantages such as reduction of performance and lifetime of theelectronic parts due to heat generated from the parts and accumulatedthereon are solved.

It is the third purpose of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard having its main body which is not necessary to be manufacturedaccording to the particular need of the customer, and a control panel ofwhich the slanting angle can be set according to demand of theparticular client. It is apparent that standardization of the main bodyis easily done and previous stock of the dealing board main body of aplurality of kinds is not necessary, resulting in an easy management ofthe dealing board.

It is the fourth purpose of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard having unit panels of which widths can be shortened by reducingthe gap distances between respective key cases of the key unit, and theworking space of the top plate of the dealing desk thereof can widen.

It is the fifth purpose of the present inventions of the application toprovide a dealing board enabling to mount elements in a high density onthe print substrate and to reduce or omit the number of the printsubstrate and joining connectors, resulting in miniaturization andcost-reduction of the dealing board.

It is the sixth purpose of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard enabling to remove panels without difficulty and with easinessmore than the conventional dealing board in which board panels aresecured after the case is turned over, and to control the gap betweenpanels from above the case resulting in a good workability.

It is the seventh purpose of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard having no screw fastening the panel to be exposed and a goodappearance.

It is the eighth object of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard enabling to suck the cover to the case.

It is the ninth purpose to provide a dealing board using an elasticmaterial to make the cover so as to make removal and fitting of thecover easy.

The tenth purpose of the present inventions is to provide a dealingboard having no problem of preventing writing instruments placedcarelessly on the slanted panel from dropping and preventing the workfrom being hindered or disturbed.

The eleventh purpose of the present inventions is to provide a dealingboard having panel units which are easy to fix and control.

It is the twelfth purpose of the present inventions to provide a dealingboard having a cover which is easy to open and close and does notseparate from the main body of the dealing board when the cover is open.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the whole structure of the dealingboard concerning the first-third inventions.

FIG. 2 is a section showing the dealing board main body.

FIG. 3 is a section showing a usage condition of the dealing body.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the portion shown by IV in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is also an enlarged view of the portion of V in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is an explanation view showing another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the panel units of the dealingboard concerning the fourth and the fifth inventions.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the constituent parts mountedon the print substrate of the panel unit.

FIG. 9 is a section depicting an important portion of the key unitconstituting the panel unit.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a rear face of the print substrateconstituting the key unit.

FIG. 11 is a section showing a usage condition of the panel unit.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the main body of the dealing board towhich the sixth--the tenth inventions relate.

FIG. 13 is a section of the main body in its assembled condition.

FIG. 14 is an explanation view of operation of the dealing board.

FIG. 15 is also an explanation view of operation of the dealing board.

FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of themain body of the dealing board.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the dealing boardmain body.

FIG. 18 is a section of the other embodiment of the dealing board mainbody.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the dealing board main body to whichthe eleventh invention relates.

FIG. 20 is a section of the main body of the same dealing board.

FIG. 21 is an enlarged exploded view of the portion VI in FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 is an enlarged exploded view of the portion VII in FIG. 20.

FIG. 23 is a perspective view of the dealing board main body.

FIG. 24 is a perspective view of the cover of the main body of thedealing board.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the cover of the main body of the samedealing board.

FIG. 26 is a front view seen along the direction VIII shown in FIG. 24.

FIG. 27 is an exploded perspective view showing the process of coverfixing.

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of the dealing board main body having thecover open.

FIG. 29 is a perspective view of the whole construction of theconventional dealing board.

FIG. 30 is a section of the whole dealing board.

FIG. 31 is a section of the main body of the dealing board above.

FIG. 32 is a section of the main body of the dealing board main body.

FIG. 33 is an explanation view of the dealing board main body at itsusage condition.

FIG. 34 is a plan view of a panel unit on the main body of the dealingboard.

FIG. 35 is a front view of the panel unit.

FIG. 36 is a side elevation of the panel unit.

FIG. 37 is a perspective view of the panel unit.

FIG. 38 is a section of the important portion of the key unit of thepanel unit.

FIG. 39 is a section of the main body of the dealing board.

FIG. 40 is a section of the main body of another dealing board.

FIG. 41 is a perspective view of the cover on the main body of theconventional dealing board.

EMBODIMENTS

As clearly depicted in FIG. 1, the dealing board of the presentinvention includes a main body 20, a desk 21, a display 22 displayingeconomic information, a hand-set 23, and a microphone 24.

The dealing board main body 20 has a box-like case 25, as shown in FIG.2, and the case 25 has a control panel 25a fixed to the top face of thecase 25.

A bottom face 25h of the case 25 is in parallel with the control panel25a, and the front face 25f and the rear face 25g of the case 25 are atright angles to the control panel 25a.

The assembling process of the control panel 25a to the case 25 will bedescribed. It is apparent from FIG. 4 that, at the rear portion of thecontrol panel, there is an engagement piece 25c to be engaged from belowwith the edge portion 25b of the opening formed in the case 25, and afixing piece 25d of substantially an L-shape as shown in FIG. 5 so as toattach to the front portion of the control panel. The engagement piece25c is engaged with the edge portion 25b of the opening as shown in FIG.4 and the fixing piece 25d is secured to a stable piece 25e protrudingdownward from the edge portion 25b by means of a screw 26 as shown inFIG. 5, thereby the control panel 25a is secured to the case 25.

On the other hand, two layers of the upper and the lower printsubstrates 27 and 28 are placed under the control panel 25a (FIG. 2).

The upper print substrate 27 has a function button 29 exposed from thecontrol panel 25a, and a spacer 30 is placed between respective printsubstrates 27 and 28. These print substrates 27 and 28 are fixed on therear face of the control panel 25a so as to be parallel to each other. Apair of connectors 31a and 31b joins electrically the upper printsubstrate 27 to the lower one 28.

The function button 29 installed on the upper print substrate 27 has aconductive contact rubber 29a (see FIG. 4) at its lower end. Pushingdown the function button 29 makes the conductive contact rubber 29acontact the contact 27a formed on the print substrate 27 so as to carryout ON-OFF operation of the circuit.

In addition, other print substrates 33, 34, and 44 are securelyinstalled in the bottom space of the case 25.

The lower print substrate 44 is installed in the bottom space so as tobe in parallel with the bottom face 25h of the case 25 through a set ofspacers 35. The upper print substrate 34 is placed above the lower printsubstrate 44 in parallel with the print substrate 44 through a set ofother spacers 36. The other upper or top print substrate 33 is connectedto the upper print substrate 34 securely by connectors 45a and 45b. Boththe print substrates 33 and 44 are electrically connected to each otherby a system of the connector 33a, a signal cable 38a, and the otherconnector 34a.

Respective print substrates 33 and 28, which are secured to the side ofthe control panel 25a, are electrically connected by means of a systemof connectors 28a and 33b, and a signal cable 37, as well as the bottomprint substrate 44 and a main body of a telephone exchanger (not shown)are connected by a signal cable 38b.

The top plate 21a of the desk 21 on which the dealing board main body 20is mounted has an open portion 21b open a little larger than the area ofthe dealing board main body 20. On the lower face of the open portion21b, fixtures 40 and 41 are secured.

The fixture 40 installed at the front side of the open portion 21b islonger than that at the rear side of the open portion 21b. Both upperend portions of the fixtures 40 and 41 are secured to the lower face ofthe top plate 21a by small screws 42. The lower portion of the frontfixture 40 is rearward slanted and has a lowest L-shape end portion orengagement portion 40a.

The other rear fixture 41 has a main portion extending in a right angleto the top plate 21a and a top end portion extending from the mainportion at a right angle and being secured to a bottom face of the topplate 21a by a small screw 42 as described above. In addition thefixture 41 has a bottom or lowest engagement portion 41a extendingslantly and downward and an angle adjusting screw 43 is inserted frombelow through the lowest engagement portion 41a.

The bottom face 25h of the case 25 of the dealing board main body 20inserted from above through the open portion 21b of the desk 21 issupported from the bottom by a front end of the angle adjusting screw 43and the engagement portion 40a of the fixture 40 so as to slant to thefront the control panel 25a relative to the upper face of the top plate21a of the desk 21.

By adjusting the angles of the fixtures 40 and 41 and the angleadjusting screw 43 before inserting the dealing board main body 20through the open portion 21b, it is possible to adjust at will the angleof the control panel 25a of the dealing board main body 20 according tothe particular demand of the customers.

According to the embodiment above, the fixing angle of the front fixture40 is set so as to make the slanting angle θ of the control panel 25aabout 20° degrees.

As a result, presupposing that the length of the top plate of the desk21 is about 350 mm, the length L₂ of legs of the user is about 500 mm,the working space L₃ is about 450 mm, and the length L₄ of the dealingboard main body 20 is about 200 mm as shown in FIG. 3, a slantingdistance L₁ of the bottom face of the dealing board main body 20 becomesabout 68 mm. This distance is sufficient to general users, so that evenwhen the length L of the top plate is made short, the knee B of the userA will hardly hit the main body 20 resulting in a small size of the desk21.

Because the print substrates 33, 34, and 44 are fixed in the bottomspace of the main body 20 in parallel with the top face of the controlpanel and the case 25 is installed slantly, these print substrates 33,34, and 44 are slanted, so that heat stream 48 shown by an arrow in FIG.2 flows along these print substrates 33, 34, and 44 effectivelyradiating heat generated from the various electronic parts mountedthereon.

According to the embodiment above, the engagement piece 25c and thefixing piece 25d are secured to the control panel 25a through, forexample, a welding method, however they may be formed by a moldingprocess of resin. In the latter case, the control panel 25a, the case25, and the fixing piece 25d at the case side may be molded.

Furthermore, the front and the rear walls 25f and 25g of the case 25 areformed so as to be at a right angle to the plane of the control panel25a, however it is not necessary to form these walls and right and leftwalls (not shown) of the case 25 at a right angle to the control panel25a on condition that at least the bottom face 25h is in parallel withthe control panel 25a. These walls may be arranged in a shape of adiamond seen from the right or left side of the case 25.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention in whichembodiment the desk 21 has a display stand 46 placed on its rear space,which stand is slanted by a predetermined angle and on which stand thedealing board main body 20 is placed. As a consequence, the controlpanel 25a of the case 25 is slanted and it is not necessary to form theopen portion 21b in the top plate 21a of the desk 21, using the topplate of the desk 21 effectively.

It is of course apparent that the embodiment above can be applied tovarious electronic apparatuses and devices provided with functionalswitches on the control panel.

As described in detail above, because the front face of the dealingboard main body having the forward-slanted control panel is slantedrearward or backed horizontally, the further the portion of the casewall is lowered, the further the front face of the dealing board mainbody is separated from the user's knee and consequently the top plate ofthe desk can be shortened. This is economical because the number of thedealing boards to be installed in a particular dealing room can bethereby increased.

In the second embodiment invention of the dealing board, the bottom faceof the dealing board main body and the print substrates contained in themain body are placed in parallel with the control panel, so that nouseless space is generated between the bottom plate and the printsubstrates, and respective print substrates, thereby improving theelement mounting space efficiency.

As a consequence, it is possible to miniaturize the dealing board mainbody and to contain the print substrates which are installed within thecontrol box according to the prior art, in the dealing board main body,so that it is not necessary to use any joining print substrate andconnectors for connecting the dealing board main body and the controlbox, thereby reducing the number of parts to be used and improving thereliability of the dealing board.

Additionally, because the print substrate is slantingly installed, heatgenerated from the electronic parts installed or mounted on the printsubstrates rises along the print substrates, thereby cooling them. It ispossible to reduced the disadvantages of deterioration of electronicparts and shortening of the life of them due to thermal effect.

In the third embodiment of the invention, the dealing board has a fixingmember for slantingly securing the main body of the dealing board to thedesk in order to adjust freely the slanting angle of the control panelon the main body, so that it is possible to set the angle of the controlpanel according to demands of the customer and to standardize thedealing board main body. It is not necessary to manufacture thesedealing board main bodies according to the client and to preparepreviously main bodies of several kinds, thereby simplifying amanagement of the main bodies.

Next, still another embodiment of the panel unit or control panel willbe described.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the panel unit or controlpanel of the embodiment above and FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective viewof the constituent parts or elements to be mounted on the printsubstrate of the embodiment above. As shown explicitly, a panel 9 has aset of openings 9-1 on which key units 6 having automatic dialingfunctions are mounted and another set of openings 9-2 on which a dialingportion 5 is mounted. These sets are arranged in plural rows and plurallines. Furthermore, the panel 9 has an opening portion 9-3 on which adisplay 7 is mounted, and an opening portion 9-4 on which a volumecontrol 8 of various displays 7 is mounted. If necessary, it is possibleto place the opening portion 9-4 for the volume control 8 under thepanel 9 or between the openings 9-1 and 9-2 formed in line.

On the bottom face of the panel 9, a plurality of fixing devices 9-5having female screws for securing the print substrate 10-1 are formed atsuitable positions of the bottom face. In order to fix the panel 9 tothe dealing board 1, upper and lower end faces of the panel 9 are bentin a L-shape of section. At both ends of the upper and the lower endfaces, there are engagement claws 9-6 having respectively fixing holes9-7.

The dialing portion 5 includes of dialing buttons 5-1 and a dialingbutton case 5-2 for slidably holding the buttons.

The key case 6-1 constituting a key control portion of the key unit 6has a through hole 6-3 through which a key button 11 slides (FIG. 9) anda lens insertion hole 6-2 for holding LED (Light Emitting Diode) lenses6-4 and 6-5 and the like. The key button 11 is fitted into the throughhole 6-3 formed in the key case 6-1 and the key button 11 is preventedfrom falling off by means of a claw 11-1 formed on the key button 11.

The display 7, such as a transparent liquid crystal device (LCD), isconstructed by a cover 7-1 and an LCD 7-2 and is secured to the openportion 9-3 formed in the panel 9 by a screw and a fixing hole 7-3.

A volume control 8-1 operable through a volume button 8-2 is placed atthe predetermined position on the print substrate 10-1, and key buttons11 of the key unit 6 and dialing buttons 5-1 of a dial control portion 5are installed on the print substrate 10-1 so as to form a circuit. Asshown in FIG. 10, flat pack ICs 10-5 capable of being mounted on flatsurfaces are mounted on the opposite side of the contact constitutingface. The flat pack IC 10-5 has functions of integrating matrixinformation of a number of switches and LEDs. The integrated informationis transferred to the print substrate 10-2 through connectors 13-1, 13-2and the integrated information is treated by ICs and the like mounted onthe print substrate 10-2.

These print substrates 10-1 and 10-2 are secured to the panel 9 througha set of fixing holes 10-3, 10-4 and bushings 14, so that the key unit 6and the dial control portion 5 are installed on the panel 9 constitutinga panel unit 4.

In addition, the print substrate 10-1 has a set of contacts 10-6, 10-7corresponding to the dial control portion 5 and the key unit 6. Thesecontacts 10-6, 10-7 are formed by printing conductive carbon paste. Itis possible to form the contacts with metallic material through awelding process.

Conductive contact rubbers 5-3, 6-3 are used in a switch mechanism forturning these contacts 10-6 and 10-7 ON-OFF.

On the print substrate 10-1, an LED chip 12-2 is mounted on the printsubstrate 10-1 so as to function as a display element corresponding tothe contact 10-6. The conductive contact rubber 6-3 has an open portion6-6 through which the LED chip 12-2 protrudes (FIGS. 8 and 9).

The key case 6-1 of the key unit 6 is installed downward, the LED lens6-5 is inserted through a lens insertion hole 6-2, an LED lens 6-4 isplaced on the LED lens 6-5, the conductive contact rubber 6-3 is placedon the open portion 6-8 formed in the key case 6-1, and a guide hole6-10 for guiding the conductive contact rubber 6-3 is applied to aprotruded portion (not shown) formed in the key case 6-1, so that theconductive contact rubber 6-3 is placed in place (FIG. 9).

The conductive contact rubber 5-3 is disposed in place by the fact thatthe dial button case 5-2 of the dial control portion 5 is downwardinstalled similar to the key case 6-1 of the key unit 6, a dial button5-1 is installed on the dial button case 5-2 so as to make a characterof the dial button 5-1 face downward, the conductive contact rubber 5-3is installed on the dial button case 5-2 so as to face a contact portionof the conductive contact rubber 5-3 upward, and the guide hole 5-4formed in the conductive contact rubber 5-3, similar to that of the keyunit 6, is inserted into the protrusion portion (not shown) formed onthe dial button case 5-2.

The key unit 6 and the dial control portion 5 respectively constructedas described above are installed downward in respective open portions9-1 and 9-2 of the panel 9 facing downward. It is noted that the display7 of the LCD and the like are previously secured to the panel 9. Theprint substrate 10-1 is mounted on the panel 9 so as to face respectivecontacts 10-6 and 10-7 down to the key unit 6 and the dial controlportion 5 installed in the panel 9, and the fixing hole 10-4 of theprint substrate 10-1 is aligned with the hole of the fixing device 9-5of the panel 9, the print substrate 10-2 is placed on the bushing 14 soas to align the bushing 14 with the holes of the print substrate 10-1and the panel 9, then they are fastened by a screw in order to constructthe panel unit 4.

FIG. 9 is the section of the important portion of the key unitconstructing the panel unit of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9and described above, the contact 10-6 on which conductive carbon pasteis printed is formed on the print substrate 10-1. There is an LED chip12-2 placed so as to correspond with the contact 10-6, and LED lenses6-4 and 6-5 are installed on the LED chip 12-2. The LED lens 6-4functions to transfer effectively upward a light beam generated from theLED chip 12-2 and also the LED lens 6-4 enlarges an area of light beam.

The LED lens 6-5 is made to have, for example, a width of 1 mm, a halfof the conventional width of 2 mm, so that the LED lens 6-5 can beplaced adjacent to the key button 11 by 1 mm. Because the width of theLED lens 6-5 is 1 mm, it is necessary to make the length twice that ofthe prior art in order to improve the ability to see light from the LEDchip 12-2, so that the length of the LED chip is made 10 mm.

When the user of the dealing board 1 is going to carry out atransmission with the customer, the user pushes the key button 11indicating the name of the customer, and the telephone line is connectedto the customer with a button-touch, emitting light from the LED chip12-2. Thus, it is known that the telephone line is being used, however,when another customer or caller is calling on the same line, it isindicated by the LED chip. The colors of the cases of being called andcalling are different from each other. According to the presentinvention, it is possible that one LED chip 12-2 emits three colors atmost.

The conductive contact rubber 6-3 placed under the key button 11corresponds to the contact 10-6 placed in the print substrate 10-1 andthe contact rubber 6-3 is not covered by a case, as is the contactrubber of the conventional key switch. Consequently, it is possible tomake the conductive contact rubber 6-3 turn ON-OFF with the contact 10-6on the print substrate 10-1.

It is not necessary, according to the present invention, to securevarious parts mounted on the print substrate 10-1 by soldering themafter the terminal 165-4 is inserted through a hole formed in the printsubstrate as in the prior art. Using the surface mountable parts on theprint substrate 10-1, it is possible to attain a high density mountingof various parts or elements mounted on the print substrate 10-1. Inparticular, the conventional LED protective resistor 12-1 is replaced bya chip element resistor 6-7 and the chip element is inserted between theunder face of the key case 6-1 and the print substrate 10-1 and securedthere, thereby it is possible to shorten a pitch X₁ between the keybuttons 11.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the width of the frame9-8 between openings 9-1, through which the key unit 6 formed in thepanel 9 is accommodated, is narrowed exceedingly from 5 mm of the priorart to 2.8 mm, so that it is possible to lessen the pitches between thekey units 6.

In order to enhance the operability or convenience of the key button 11employed in the key unit 6, the depth of the key button 11 is made 10.7mm which is the same as that of the prior art.

Because both the LED chip 12-2 and the LED lenses 6-5 and 6-4 are placednear the key button 11, it is a concern that emission from the LED chipis hardly seen because of hindrance of the front face of the key button11. This is solved by making a step difference Y₁ between the front faceof the key button 11 and the top face of the LED lens 6-5, less than thestep difference Y₂ of the prior art and making a slope of the slantededge 11-2 of a circumference of the top face of the key button 11 lessthan the slope of the conventional structure.

As described above, according to the embodiment above, it is possible toshorten the pitch size of the key buttons 11 from X₂ =28 mm of the priorart to X₁ =18 mm.

As a consequence, as shown in FIG. 11, it is possible to lessen thespace or depth L₃ occupied by the dealing board 1. Therefore, it ispossible to lessen the depth L of the whole structure of the dealingdesk without changing a depth L₁ of a work space and a depth L₂ of thespace in which a CRT or the like is installed.

The panel 9 is manufactured by a sheet metal process according to theembodiment, but it is possible to manufacture it by a mold process. Thekey case 6-1 of the key unit 6, the dial button 5-1 of the dial controlportion 5, and the key button 11 are formed by a mold process.

In addition, the key unit 6 may have two sliding portions of the keybutton and may be constructed to accommodate a long button having a sizeabout twice of the length of the key button 11. Such a long button isused, for example, to reserve the telephone line, or for transfer andoff-operation of the telephone, which are functions used repeatedly.Because the key button is long, an operability thereof will be improved.These long key buttons can be applied to panel units of other electronicappliances.

As described above, according to the dealing board of the fourthembodiment of the invention, the key unit has a switch mechanism whichincludes contacts formed on the print substrate and a conductive contactrubber used to turn the contact ON-OFF, and display elementscorresponding to each contact. A chip element is installed between thebottom face of the key case and the print substrate, so that it ispossible to shorten the distance or pitch X₁ between the key cases 6-1of the key unit thereby reducing the depth or width of the panel unit.As a result, a small dealing board having a wide working space of thedealing desk is attained.

According to the fifth embodiment of the invention of the presentapplication, a number of matrix information of the switch mechanism andthe display elements are integrated on the opposite side of the face onwhich contacts of the print substrate are formed, the flat pack IC partsare mounted on this opposite side and IC parts for controlling thematrix information are divided and mounted on the other print substrate,so that it is possible to carry out a high density parts mounting on theprint substrate and a miniaturizing and cost-reduction of the panel unitby a reduction of the number of the print substrates and joiningconnectors therefor.

Due to a miniaturization of the dealing board, it is possible to makethe dealing desk smaller and to use more effectively the limited floorspace of the dealing room.

Another embodiment of the fixing structure securing a panel unit to theopening or open portion of the dealing board main body is shown in FIGS.12-18.

FIG. 12 shows a whole view of the dealing board having multi-telephonefunctions, FIG. 13 is a section depicting an assembled case, and FIGS.14 and 15 are operation explanation views of a disassembling process ofthe case.

The main body 51 of the dealing board has a case 52 provided with anopen top face and a plurality of panels 53 are detachably secured to theopening 52a of the case 52.

In FIG. 12, 54 shows a hand set of the telephone set and 55 is amicrophone.

The case 52 of the dealing board main body 51 has a rear wall 52c higherthan its front wall 52b so as to slant forward the top face of the case.

A bottom plate 52d is detachably secured to the bottom portion by asmall screw 56. A fixing piece 52e is firmly secured to the open edge ofthe rear side of the opening 52a at the top face of the case 52, and areceiving member 57 of a substantially L shape is secured to the frontopen edge by welding or the like.

The top portions of the multi-function buttons 61 mounted on the printsubstrate 60, which is secured to a rear face of the panel 53 through asmall screw or bis 59 and a spacer 68, protrude through top surfaces ofthe plural panels 53 which are installed from above to the opening 52aof the case 52. A fixing piece 53a engages from below with the fixingpiece 52e at the side of the case 52 and is secured to the rear edgeportion of each panel 53.

A securing member 62 formed by bending in a shape substantially of acrank in section is secured through its one side to the rear face of thefront edge side of the panel 53 by means of welding or the like. Theother side of the securing member 62 is adapted to be mounted on thereceiving member 57 at the side of the case 52 as shown in FIG. 14 whenthe panel 53 fits into the opening 52a from above, so that there is abis hole 62a there. It is possible to secure the panel 53 to the case 52by threadingly inserting the bis or small screw 63 inserted through thebis hole 62a formed in the securing member 62.

62b shown in the figure is a cut-out formed in the securing member 62.By securing the securing member 62 installed on the panel 53 to thereceiving member 57 at the side of the case 52 by means of the smallscrew 63, it is possible to form a dent 65 extending fully across thewidth of the case 52 between the front edge of the panel 53 and theupper edge of the front wall 52b of the case 52. The cover 66 is adaptedto be fitted from above into the upper opening of the dent 65.

As shown in FIG. 14, the cover 66 has a section of a shape ofsubstantially L and a size sufficient to cover the opening of the dent65. A sucking member 67 made of magnetic material is fixed to the lowerface of the central portion of the cover 66. When the cover 66 fits intothe opening of the dent 65 from above, the sucking member 67 is suckedby a magnet 68 fixed to the receiving member 57 at the side of the case52, so it is possible to place the cover 66 on the case 52.

52g in the figure means a cut-out through which a tool such as a driver70 is inserted when the cover 66 is intended to be removed (FIG. 15).

An operation of the dealing board will now be described. When thedealing board is used, a plurality of panels 53 are installed from aboveon the opening 52a of the case 52. When the panel 53 is moved orreplaced by a new one in order to change its function, it is necessaryto insert the tool 70 into the cut-out 52g formed at the front face ofthe case 52 as shown in FIG. 15 and remove the cover 66, exposing a dent65 at the front side of the case 52 as seen in FIG. 13. Then the smallscrew 63 fixing the panel 53 is unfastened to change its position orexchange with a new panel.

After the position-changing or replacing of the panel 53, a gap betweenpanels 53 is adjusted so as to make the gaps X between panels 53 equaland the securing member 62 is secured to the receiving member 57 by asmall screw 63.

These workings above can be done from above the case 52, so it is notnecessary to turn over the case 52, which turning-over has been doneconventionally.

After a completion of the assembling of each panel 53, the cover 66 fitsinto the opening of the dent 65 to close the opening.

According to the embodiment above of the present invention, though thedent 65 is formed at the front side of the case 52, it is possiblealternately to form dents 65 at the front and the rear sides of the case52, whereby front and rear portions of the panel 53 are fixed to thecase 52 through the small screws 63 as shown in FIG. 16, and covers 66fit into the front and rear dents 65 as shown in FIG. 17.

FIG. 18 shows still another embodiment in which an opening 65a of thedent 65 extends fully across substantially the width of the top face ofthe case 52 and an elastic member 71 is fitted to the opening 65a so asto make a top portion of the elastic member 71 protrude above the topface of the panel 53.

According to the embodiment, when the elastic member 71 is taken offfrom the opening 65a of the dent 65, the small screw 63 is exposed, sothat it is possible to fix and remove the panel 53 from above the case52 similar to the previous embodiment. Furthermore, when the dealingboard is used, the top portion of the elastic member 71 protrudes abovethe panel 53, so that a writing instrument 72 placed carelessly on thepanel 53 is stopped by a protrusion 71a of the top portion of theelastic member 71, preventing the writing instrument 72 from dropping.

The prevention function above can also be attained by forming aprotrusion on the cover 66.

According to respective embodiments, the case 52 and the panel 53 aremanufactured by a metal plate forming process, however, they can beformed by molding resin and the like, in which case it is possible toform the fixing pieces 52e and 53a, receiving member 57, and securingmember 62 integrally with the case 52 and panel 53.

It is also possible to use both-face sticking tape, latches and the likeas a securing means for fixing the cover 66 to the case 52.

As described above, the sixth embodiment of the invention of the presentapplication provides a dealing board having multiple telephoningfunctions which are unitized and respective units are panelized, and aplurality of panels are installed therein. In the dealing board above, adent having an open top face opening between respective panels installedso as to be slanted forward is formed on the top face of the case andthe panel is adapted to be secured to the case from above through theopening of the dent by means of a screw, consequently it is notnecessary to turn over the case in order to secure the panel as in theprior art, so that the detaching work of the panels can be done withoutdifficulty, as well as the gap between panels can be adjusted from abovethe case, thereby improving its workability.

In the dealing board of the seventh embodiment of the invention of thepresent application, the opening of the dent is adapted to be closed bya removable cover, so that no fastening means such as screws for thepanel are needed and no means is exposed, resulting in an improvement ofappearance.

In the dealing board of the eighth embodiment of the invention, asucking member made of magnetic material is installed on the cover, inwhich the sucking member is adapted to be sucked to the magnet on thecase, resulting in easy removal of the cover.

In the dealing board of the ninth embodiment of the invention, the coveris made of an elastic member and so removal of the cover is easy.

In the dealing board of tenth embodiment of the invention, the cover hasa protrusion protruding above the top face of the panel, and even thougha Writing instrument is carelessly placed on the panel, the protrusionprevents the instrument from falling down and solves any hindrance onwork.

Next, another embodiment of the fixing structure of the panel unit willbe described in detail with reference to FIGS. 19-22.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of a single dealing board and FIG. 20 is asection of the dealing board.

The dealing board shown in FIG. 19 has a main body 81 installed on thedesk so as to be slanted on its front side and a plurality of panelunits 82 are arranged transversely in a row on the opening 81a openingin the top face of the dealing board main body 81. At both sides of thedealing board main body 81, there are hand-sets 83 and 84 for callingand receiving calls through two-wire lines. At the left side thereof,there are a microphone 85 and a speaker 86 enabling one to call andreceive calls without using hand-sets 83 and 84.

The panel unit 82 having united telephoning functions, a dial button 90for calling the clients, a liquid crystal display portion 91 fordisplaying messages and the like, and one-push buttons 92 for enablingone to call the customer instantly are panel-united per each function.

The front edge 81b of the opening 81a open in the top face of thedealing board main body 81 is substantially at a right angle to a frontface plate 81c of the dealing board main body 81. A receiving device 81dshaped in substantially a reversed L is secured to the inside of thefront edge 81b so as to leave a gap X₃ between the front edge 81b andthe lower face, and an engagement piece 82a protruding from the panelunit 82 is adapted to be inserted into the gap X₃ between the receivingdevice 81d and the front edge 81b.

As described above, a plurality of kinds of the panel units 82 per eachfunction are prepared previously. The panel unit 82 having an auto-dialfunction enabling one to call the particular customer instantly or byone-push operation has the following structure.

As shown in FIG. 22, a case 92a of the one touch button 92 isaccommodated in the opening 82c open in the panel 82b of the panel unit82 and a button 92b is installed slidably up-and-down within the case92a. Below the button 92b, a conductive contact rubber 92c and the printsubstrate 94 are placed with a gap between them. The conductive contactrubber 92c is adapted to contact the contact 94a on the print substrate94 generating an ON signal when the button 92b is pushed.

The print substrate 94 as shown in FIG. 20 is secured to a rear face ofthe panel 82b through a spacer 95 and a set-screw 96 and another printsubstrate 97 is secured below the print substrate 94 through the spacer95 and the set-screw 96. Electronic part 98 for obtaining one-touchdialing function is secured to the print substrate 97 and a connector 99joins print substrates 94 and 97 to one another.

An engagement piece 82a is protrudingly formed at the front end and therear end of the panel 82b of the panel unit 82 mentioned above and theengagement piece 82a at the front end is engaged with the opening 81a atthe side of the front edge 81b.

The engagement piece 82a at the rear end side is adapted to be securedto the dealing board main body 81 by means of a fixing device 100 formedat a rear edge of the opening 81a of the dealing board main body 81.

As shown in FIG. 21, the fixing device 100 has a substantially reversedL-shape and another fixing device 100a of a reversed L-shape smallerthan the former is secured within an interior of the former with a gapX₃ '.

A size of the gap X₃ ' is sufficient to make the engagement piece 82ainserted therethrough, similar to the previous gap X₃. A front end ofthe receiving device 100a is adapted to not protrude from a front end ofthe fixing device 100.

The fixing device 100 has a thread hole 100b formed therein throughwhich hole 100b a set-screw 101 is inserted, which set-screw is adaptedto be threadingly inserted through a screen plate or partition plate 81esecured to a rear face plate 81g of the dealing board main body 81.

The screen plate 81e is secured to the inside of an upper edge portionof the rear face plate 81g by means such as welding as shown in FIG. 21.A screw hole 81f through which the set-screw 101 is inserted is formedat a top end side of the screen plate 81e.

An operation of the dealing board will now be described. Fixing a panelunit 82 to the dealing board main body 81, a position of the panel unit82 is first determined, then the panel unit 82 is fixed to the opening81a of the main body 81.

When fixing is carried out, the engagement piece 82a at the front endside of the panel unit 82 is inserted through the gap X₃ formed betweenthe front edge 81b of the opening 81a and the receiving device 81d, thenanother engagement piece 82a at a rear end side is inserted throughanother gap X₃ ' between the fixing device 100 and the receiving device100a, a set-screw 101 is inserted through a screw hole 100b of thefixing device 100 and is threadedly inserted through a screw hole 81f ofa screen plate 81e, tentatively holding the panel unit 82.

It is possible to secure or fix the panel unit 82 at a place near thefront face side or on the front face side of the dealing board main body81 at that time, thereby improving the workability.

After a completion of tentative securing of all the panel units 82, thegap X₁ between the dealing board main body 81 and each panel unit 82 andanother gap X₂ (not shown) between respective panel units 82 areadjusted so as to equalize them to each other and then set-screws 101are finally fastened in order to settle all panel units 82 relative tothe dealing board main body 81. Consequently it is not necessary to turnaround or reverse the dealing board main body 81, as as in the priorart, when the panel units 82 are secured to the main body 81.

According to the embodiment above, the fixing device 100 is placed atthe side of the rear face plate 81g of the main body 81 of the dealingboard, however, it is apparent that it may be installed at the side ofthe front face plate 81c.

Explicitly the fixing device 100 is made of metal sheet, so its surfaceis preferably painted.

Consequently, considering a thickness of the paint, the gaps X₃, X₃ 'through which engagement piece 82a is inserted are determined as shownbelow.

According to the embodiment, the thickness of the engagement piece 82ais 1.6 mm. When the gaps X₃, X₃ ' are 1.8 mm and the engagement piece82a is inserted through the gaps X₃, X₃ ', the paint will be peeled off.

When the gaps are fixed to 2.2 mm, the engagement piece 82a enterswithout difficulty, however the piece 82a will be given a play. This isnot preferable. As a result, the gaps X₃, X₃ ' are made to be 2.0 mm.The engagement piece 82a is then insertable through the gaps X₃, X₃ 'without peeling off of paint.

The resultant data of experiments above is shown in the followingTable-1.

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                                    sizes of                                                                      X.sub.3, X.sub.3 '                                                item          1.8        2.0       2.2                                        ______________________________________                                        insertion     difficult  good      easy                                       peeling off   seen       None      none                                       play of panel none       none      played                                     unit                                                                          total         X          ◯                                                                           Δ                                    judgement                                                                     ______________________________________                                    

The data above is obtained when the fixing device 100 is manufactured bymetal sheet. When the fixing device 100 is manufactured by syntheticresin, no problem of paint peeling occurs.

The manufacturing process may be applied to electric appliances andmachines other than the dealing board with a similar result.

According to the eleventh invention of the application, one of theengagement pieces protruded from both ends of the panel unit is engagedwith an end of the opening of the dealing board main body and anotherengagement piece is secured to the dealing board main body by a fixingdevice on the front surface or near the front surface of the main body,so that it is possible to secure panel units without reversing thedealing board main body, as well as to adjust the gaps betweenrespective panel units while seeing the surface of the dealing boardmain body. As a result, it is possible to exceedingly improve theworkability of securing the panel units to the main body of the dealingboard, in comparison with the conventional dealing board.

Because it is possible to secure the panel units while watching thearrangement of them, panel units are effectively secured for shorttimes. Also, rearrangement, checking and repairing of the panel unitscan be done at the front surface of the main body of the dealing board,resulting in ease of exchanging and maintenance of the panel units.

Next, a construction of the cover covering the card insertion slot ofthe dealing board will be explained.

FIG. 23 shows a perspective view of the dealing board provided with acontrol panel 112 placed on the top face of a main body 111 of thedealing board shown, a plasma display 113, a reader-writer (not shown),and a card insertion slot 116. The control panel 112 has a number ofbuttons 112a and the card insertion slot 116 is adapted to be coveredwith a cover 114 and through which a memory card 115 is inserted.

As shown in FIG. 27, the card insertion slot 116 has an ellipse openingand a protrusion button 118 for taking out the card is placed by one endof the card insertion slot 116. There are a fixing hole 111a and a smallhole 111b adjacent to the button 118, through the former a fasteningdevice 125 such as a rivet for fastening one end portion of the cover114 is inserted and through the latter a projection 114a for preventingthe cover 114 from rotating is inserted.

Adjacent to the other end of the card insertion slot 116, an engagementhole 111c of a raised-type shape in plane is formed, and the hole 111chas an engagement portion 111d.

It is noted that the cover 114 is integrally formed by synthetic resinand the like and it includes generally a flat portion 114b covering thecard insertion slot 116 and a raised button cover portion 114c coveringthe card taking-out button 118 as shown in FIGS. 24-26.

An elastic engagement claw 114d of an elastic engagement portion havinga substantial V-shape in side view is integrally formed at an endportion of the flat plate portion 114b.

The elastic engagement claw 114d has a narrow engagement portion 114d'and a knob 114e for taking off the narrow engagement portion 114d' whichare adapted to be engageable with an engagement portion 111d of theengagement hole 111c.

The button covering portion 114c has an open bottom. When the buttoncovering portion 114c covers the slot 116, the card taking-off button118 protrudes through the open bottom and is accommodated in the buttoncovering portion 114c. Two slits 114f extending along an up-and-downdirection are formed with a separation gap in a width direction betweenthem at the end face of the button covering portion 114c.

On the interior face of the slits 114f, there are two ridges 114iextending in the axial direction, with which ridges the engagementportion 114h of an engagement piece 114g described below engages.

On end faces of the ridges 114i at its side through which the engagementpiece 114g enters, there is a slanted face 114j adapted to make anentering of the engagement portion 114h of the engagement piece 114geasy. As a result, the engagement piece 114g is kept at its insertioncondition through the slit 114f and the engagement portion 114h of theengagement piece 114g is engaged with the ridge 114i so as to keep thecover 114 in an erected position.

A fixing portion 114l of a tongue-shape is integrally formed below theend face side of the button covering portion 114c.

In order to make a hinge portion 114k elastically deformable, it has acut-out 114m formed on the end face of the button cover portion 114c soas to sandwich the hinge portion 114k, as well as the hinge portion 114kitself has a thickness, for example, about 0.3-0.5 mm thinner than thatof the fixing portion 114l.

The fixing portion 114l has a fixing hole 114n formed at a positioncorresponding to that of another fixing hole 111a open at the side ofthe main body 111 of the dealing board, and a protrusion 114a placed ata position corresponding to a small hole 111b so as to prevent the cover114 from rotating.

The cover 114 is placed by the following process. As shown in FIG. 27,the fastening device or rivet 125 is inserted through the fixing hole111a of the dealing board main body 111 and another fixing hole 114nformed in the fixing portion 114l, and then the fastening device 126 iscaulked. In the fastening process, the projection 114a formed on thebottom face of the fixing portion 114l fits the small hole 111b at theside of the dealing board main body 111, thus the cover 114 is preventedfrom rotating around a fulcrum of the fastening device 125.

An operation of the dealing board will now be described. When thedealing board main body 111 is not used, the elastic engagement claw114d of the cover 114 is pressed in the engagement hole 111c at the sideof the dealing board main body 111, the gap X₄ at the front end side ofthe elastic engagement claw 114d is made small or narrow, then itelastically widens, thereby the engagement portion 114d' of the elasticclaw 114d is engaged with the engagement portion 111d of the engagementhole 111c. It is apparent from the above that the front end side of thecover 114 is engaged with the dealing board main body 111, preventingthe card taking-out button 118 from erroneously or carelessly beingtouched and foreign matter such as dust and the like from entering intothe card insertion slot 116.

When the dealing board main body 111 is used, the knob 114e at a frontend of the elastic engagement claw 114d is pushed so as to make the gapX₄ at its front end narrow, taking off the engagement portion 111d fromanother engagement portion 114d.

When the cover 114 is raised upward about a right angle around the hingeportion 114k, the front ends of the engagement piece 114g protrudedalong both side directions of the fixing portion 114l enter in the slits114f through the end face of the button cover portion 114c, theengagement portion 114h formed protrudingly at front ends of theengagement piece 114g rides over the ridges 114i formed on the innerwalls of the slits 114f. As a result, the cover 114 is held in an erectposition because the engagement portion 114h engages with the ridges114i.

The memory card 115 is inserted through the card insertion slot 116 andthe cover 114 is closed, so the card taking-out button 118 is covered bythe cover 114, resulting in a prevention of the card taking-out button118 from erroneously being touched during usage of the dealing board.

According to the embodiment above, the cover 114 is formed in a shape offlat plate in part in order to miniaturize the cover 114, however it ispossible to make the cover 114 in the shape of a square box of a sizelarge enough to cover the card insertion slot 116 and the cardtaking-out button 118.

In order to make it possible to recognize that the memory card 115 isinserted or not in the card insertion slot 116 when the cover is closed,the cover 114 may be made of transparent or semi-transparent material.

As described in detail above, according to the twelfth embodiment of theinvention of the present application, as for a construction of the coverfor covering the card insertion slot of the reader-writer for readingand writing information stored in the memory card, and covering the cardtaking-out button placed adjacent to the card insertion slot, the coverhas, at its end, a fixing portion for installing the cover on thedealing board main body, a hinge portion for functioning as a fulcrumfor opening and closing the cover, and a holding mechanism for holdingthe cover in its erected position after it is raised around the hingeportion. On the other hand, the cover has at its other end an elasticengagement portion adapted to engage removably with an engagement holeformed in the dealing board main body, thereby it is possible to preventthe card taking-out button from erroneously and carelessly beingtouched, and foreign matter such as dust and trash from entering andinvading into the card insertion slot. In consequence, it is possible toprevent the reader-writer from malfunctioning and being damaged due toforeign matter.

Because the cover can open around the hinge portion after merelytaking-off the elastic engagement portion, it is much easier to open andclose the cover as compared to the prior art cover which is opened byloosening screws. In addition, the cover is not detached from thedealing board main body, so there is no danger of missing the cover.

Additionally, because the open cover is held at its erected positionsubstantially perpendicularly, the cover does not hinder the memory cardbeing entered and taken out.

Although only several embodiments of the inventions have been disclosedand described, it is apparent that other embodiments and modificationsof the inventions are possible without departing from the spirit of theinventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A dealing board comprising:a dealing board mainbody having a substantially box-shape structure comprising a top plate,a bottom plate, a front face plate and a rear face plate, said top platebeing forwardly slanted relative to a top of a desk on which saiddealing board main body is placed, said top plate having at least oneopening; and at least one individual panel unit respectively arranged inthe opening; wherein the dealing board main body includes:a bent portionformed at a top end of one of the front face plate and the rear faceplate; a receiving device secured to the one of the front face plate andthe rear face plate, a first gap is created between the bent portion andthe receiving device; a screen plate attached to a top end of the otherof the rear face plate and the front face plate, the screen plate has anunbent top end; a fixing device removably attached to said screen plateby means of a set screw, the fixing device having a second bent portionformed at a top end thereof; and a second receiving device secured tosaid fixing device so as to create a second gap between the secondreceiving device and the second bent portion; wherein the individualpanel unit has engagement pieces at a rear edge and a front edge of theindividual panel unit; and wherein the engagement pieces are engagedwith the first gap and the second gap, respectively, and the fixingdevice is attached to the screen plate by means of the set screw so asto protrude a head of the set screw outside of the fixing device, sothat the individual panel unit is installed in the opening of the topplate.
 2. The dealing board according to claim 1, further comprising aprint board installed in the dealing board main body, wherein the bottomplate of the dealing board main body is in parallel with the individualpanel unit, and the print board is in parallel with the individual panelunit and is attached onto the dealing board main body.
 3. The dealingboard according to claim 1, further comprising fixing members attachedto both front and rear sides, respectively, of an opening of the desk,the fixing members being inclined relative to a vertical line andincluding engagement portions at lower end portions of the fixingmembers,the fixing members comprising:a first fixing member having afirst engagement portion supporting one end side of the bottom plate ofthe dealing board; and a second fixing member having a second engagementportion supporting the other end side of the bottom plate of the dealingboard, the second engagement portion through which an adjustment screwis threadingly inserted; wherein a front end of the adjustment screwabut against the other end side of the bottom plate of said dealingboard main body so as to adjust a slant angle of the individual panelunit by rotating the adjustment screw inserted through the secondengagement portion.
 4. The dealing board according to claim 11, whereinsaid front face plate of the dealing board main body is slantedrearwardly and downwardly.